PITTSBURGH,
July 21, 2008-Advocating for the elimination of regulatory and marketplace
burdens that prevent the deployment of broadband services to small and rural
communities across America, the American Cable Association (ACA) today urged the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to be vigilant in its ongoing review of
regulations that have a significant economic impact on small cable operators.
This review will determine whether the rules should be amended or rescinded in
order to free up resources and bandwidth for the deployment of greater
broadband services in rural America.

Addressing
the Chairman and Commissioners from the FCC, Members of Congress and industry
leaders, ACA President and CEO Matthew M. Polka
delivered the Association's remarks at the FCC's public en banc hearing
on broadband and the digital future, held at Carnegie Mellon
University.

"ACA
members are vital businesses and competitors in their communities and for consumers,"
stated Mr. Polka. "Our members are offering broadband to their customers, in
spite of the economic challenges typical of service providers in rural America. Our customers
want broadband, and we are finding ways to offer it at reasonable prices even with
increasing costs of running the business and supporting broadband services."

Mr.
Polka outlined the unique challenges impacting independent cable operators with
a limited subscriber base that frequently hinder their ability to roll out
advanced broadband services. The costs to upgrade systems are difficult to
recoup; disperse customers lead to higher costs of network maintenance; and
access to capital in small town America
can be difficult.

Today's
comments at the hearing follow multiple filings by ACA to the FCC urging the Commission
to put an end to discriminatory and harmful programming bundling and retransmission
consent practices to ensure the continued deployment of broadband services in
smaller markets and rural areas, not to mention giving consumers more choice and
control over the programming they want to watch.

Mr.
Polka concluded his remarks by urging the Commission to proceed with its rulemaking
on tying and bundling and retransmission consent and to complete this process
as soon as possible.

Based
in Pittsburgh, the American Cable Association is a trade organization
representing 1,100 smaller and medium-sized, independent cable companies who
provide broadband services for more than 7 million cable subscribers primarily
located in rural and smaller suburban markets across America. Through active
participation in the regulatory and legislative process in Washington, D.C.,
ACA's members work together to advance the interests of their customers and
ensure the future competitiveness and viability of their business. For more
information, visit www.americancable.org.